Think Tank Says High Court Should Take Up Union Dues Case

Law360 covers CEI’s amicus brief filing in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 regarding forced union dues.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute on Monday threw its support behind a nonunion Illinois state employee’s challenge to mandatory public sector union dues at the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the labor union in the case has used so-called agency fees to pay for political and ideological advocacy.

The CEI filed its amicus brief in support of worker Mark Janus, who in June filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in the high court in a suit against the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 that challenged the constitutionality of an Illinois state law that requires workers who are covered by collective bargaining agreements to pay agency fees if they are not members of public sector unions. The brief said the AFSCME affiliate has used those fees in the past year to pay for advocacy on such issues as immigration reform, gun control, marijuana legalization and tax policy.

“The right to free speech also includes the right not to speak,” Andrew Grossman, an attorney for the CEI, said in a statement. “State governments and labor unions seem to have forgotten that. The Supreme Court should remind them.”

Read the full article at Law360.